Irregular or heavy menstrual flow can be caused by changing hormonal patterns in the years leading up to menopause but can also be caused by other things too so it’s important to check in with your healthcare provider if you have heavy or irregular flow.
The clip below from our interview with Dr. Marcie Richardson explains the possible causes of irregular and heavy menstrual flow also called abnormal uterine bleeding. Dr. Richardson is the Director of the Menopause Clinic at Atrius Health and an Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. Full transcript below.
Transcript
Welcome to Interviews with experts, today we share a clip from our interview with Dr. Marcie Richardson, an Obstetrician/Gynecologist. Dr. Richardson is also the Director of The Menopause Center at Atrius Health and an Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School. Heavy flow.
In this clip, Dr. Richardson talks about the causes of heavy and irregular flow. As she notes, lasting changes in the amount of menstrual flow should be discussed with a healthcare provider to determine the cause.
We need to talk about both heavy and irregular flow. And when you think about abnormal uterine bleeding and abnormal uterine bleeding is irregular uterine bleeding or heavy uterine bleeding I think it’s defined somewhat by the experience of the person who has experienced what presumably is a change. It can be also be defined by becoming anemic. If you have very heavy flow over a long period of time, you will often have a low iron count and that can contribute to fatigue as well.
In any case, when you think about abnormal uterine bleeding there are two etiologies – one is normal and one is anatomic. Now, hormonal means you are not ovulating regularly and that can be fixed by managing the situation with hormonal interventions. Anatomic that you’ve got some kind of a growth, not necessarily cancer, but a benign growth in your uterus that is making you bleed heavy or irregularly. And that can be sometimes managed hormonally but sometimes has to managed surgically. So if you are having a problem with your periods you need to see a gynecological to help you figure out what’s going on and whether an intervention is required.
Brought to you by Women Living Better. More at womenlivingbetter.org
Additional resource on heavy flow
Very Heavy Menstrual Flow from CeMCOR (The Centre for Menstrual Cycle Ovulation Research).
